What is the TELUS Canadian Championship?
Nobody said this was going to be easy. Forge certainly didn’t. They never have, never will.
It’s another massive six days for the Hammers with their two most critical matches of the season lying in wait, beginning with the long-anticipated second leg of the TELUS Canadian Championship semifinal in Vancouver Tuesday night. After the first game, a compelling 2-2 draw in Hamilton five weeks ago, in this one, it’s winner takes all; meaning a berth in the single-game Voyageurs Cup final against the survivor of an all-CPL semi between Atlético Ottawa and upset-minded Vancouver FC.
On Saturday night before a sold-out raucous crowd of 26,000-plus at BC Place, the Whitecaps tuned up for Forge, by coming off a three-week international window as prepared as a team could be to annihilate Philadelphia Union, the top team in the MLS, 7-0.
After Tuesday’s match, which will be carried live on TSN and OneSoccer (10 p.m. ET), Forge heads to Ottawa and a Sunday showdown for first place in the CPL. Forge incurred a rare sluggish 2-1 loss to Valour in Winnipeg Thursday night and needs to step up its game, and sharpness, in several areas to face two of the three best teams in the country. Forge, which didn’t lose through its first 20 CPL or 24 all-competition matches of the season, is of course one of those three. But after that long and sweet undefeated streak, they’ve lost two of their last three and have given the ball away too often, and been a little too passive, in both losses. They were, however, brilliant in the second half in the solid 1-0 victory over HFX in between a 4-1 loss in Calgary and the second-half Valour comeback.
Forge remains in first place in the CPL, two points ahead of Ottawa, and has guaranteed themselves a home playoff match but they’re looking at much more than that from this week which offers a double gateway to next winter’s Concacaf Champions Cup. The Canadian Championship winner gets an automatic berth, and so does the team which finishes first in the regular season to win the CPL Shield. So these two games are massive stepping stones to the biggest competition on the continent.
Ottawa had a chance to move into a tie with Hamilton atop the league standings after Valour upset Forge, but despite holding 1-0- and 2-1 leads, on goals by runaway Golden Boot leader Sam Salter, Ottawa let both margins slip away on Sunday and settled for a 2-2 draw away to York United.
The night before, the Whitecaps flexed their muscles like they never have before.
Ignited by the signing of Tomas Müller and, before that, reaching the Champions Cup finals, the Caps and their fans sense this could be the year they win the MLS title, despite the continued injury loss of Ryan Gauld and the sale of star midfielder Pedro Vite to Mexican side Pumas.
On his 36th birthday Saturday, Müller celebrated in style with a hat-trick—the first two on penalty kicks, the third, the game’s seventh marker, on a header off the second touch of a set piece—and an assist. It was his third MLS game, and second at home, since joining Vancouver in early August after a legendary, record-setting career with Bayern Munich.
“What I love about this team is that we’re not stopping,” said Müller, who’d signed the Caps before their 2-2 Cup draw in Hamilton but didn’t travel with the team for that leg. “We don’t stop, even if we’re down or if it’s a draw. That’s the message we want to send. Firstly, to us internally, but also to the other teams. That should be our mentality for the rest of the season and also for the future.”
Vancouver, the three-time reigning Canadian champions, scored seven goals for the first time in its 16-season MLS history, four goals for the first time in their MLS era, and matched the all-time league high for margin of victory in a game.
“Philly is still top of the league,” Müller said Saturday night. “So we can be proud and then after two days we go again.”
Müller has four goals and an assist in his three Caps appearances, and his arrival has elevated the presence of players like winger Emmanuel Sabbi and midfielder/left-back Ali Ahmed, who is coming off his first international goal for the Canadian Men’s National Team, and forced several bold penetrations down the left side against the Philadelphia rearguard.
Forge will have to be aware of him, but also of several other Cap stars who have risen to the spotlight as it’s grown bright on the west coast, as first-year head coach Jesper Sørensen has incrementally implemented a strong team playing identity. American international Sebastian Berhalter had three assists Saturday to reach 11 on the season, the same as Canadian international Jayden Nelson. Striker Brian Wright has 20 goals, and is always dangerous anywhere near the box. They have talent across the pitch, including defender Tristan Blackmon who scored against the Hammers in August and is moving into the picture for the U.S. national team.
The two lineups also boast the two goalkeepers who lead their respective leagues in clean sheets. Forge’s Jassem Koleilat has a league-record 11 shutouts in 23 CPL games, and Whitecaps’ Yohei Takaoka, the Japanese international who has blanked the opposition a dozen times in 28 MLS matches. But in the game in Hamilton, Vancouver used 23-year-old BC native Isaac Boehmer in net.
When the two teams met in August, it was a shootout through the opening 45 minutes with all four goals being scored in the first half---Blackmon and White, plus Nana Ampomah and Brian Wright (off an unselfish Ampomah feed)--before the two teams settled down after feeling each other out and making adjustments.
“When the final whistle blew, I don’t think you saw a happy Forge player on the pitch,” Smyrniotis said after Hamilton’s home leg. “Some people would be happy with a 2-2 draw against an MLS opponent. That’s not who we are.”
Vancouver’s rising confidence and speedy movement with the ball will be challenges to a Forge rearguard which has built the strong foundation in the club’s outstanding season so far. Ahmed didn’t play last time against Hamilton and it’s not sure if Müller will start, with another big MLS game on the weekend, but they’ve got plenty of depth.
Forge, for its part, has almost always surged after sub-par performances and will draw upon that deep professionalism in this game. Ampomah has been playing consistently and with creative flair and opportunism and they’ve got a corps of veterans who are never in awe of the circumstances. The greater the challenge, say seasoned pros like Kyle Bekker and Tristan Borges, the more they like it. Borges was injured in the last game but has returned to full form and can keep ball control on both flanks.
But Forge will have to be quicker on the ball, and play more aggressively than they have been in the past couple of weeks and find a way to plug the centre lane, from which Vancouver likes to generate attack.
And, Müller, of course, will present a challenge, making those around him better and his mere presence, on the pitch or on the bench, can trigger electric responses from the very vocal Cap fan base.
“I was injured for the last game against Vancouver so I’m eager to play against them,” said Forge’s versatile midfielder Ben Paton. “It’s pretty exciting to play against a player like Müller.”